How about making more than an interesting
sidebar out of the mention in international
news media that animals fled inland
prior to the tsunami? We believe that
it is necessary for survival on this
planet to do more than comment on the
oddities of animals' sixth sense. Animal-human
relationships are vital to life on earth.
Unfortunately it seems to take disasters
of massive proportions to bring the
importance of respect for animals to
the world's attention.

For years, we and other authors have collected anecdotal evidence that animals
are messengers and partners to humans.
We have found, published, and disseminated
hundreds of true stories about animals
warning people of natural, physical,
and emotional disasters. These documented
experiences demonstrate that, indeed,
animals have a sixth sense. Even more
amazing, animals consistently, compassionately,
and courageously use their awareness
to aid humans. Examples from our books
include: A normally timid dog risks
his life to stand between a toddler
and viscous neighborhood dog, withstanding
bites but holding his ground until help
arrives. A cardiologist confirms that
for ten years, two cats served as a
woman's pacemakers when they took turns
waking her during the night and massaging
the chest area above her heart. Wild
birds in Florida awaken a sleeping couple
with such shrillness that they discover
a fire has started on their patio and
threatens to burn down their house.

Recent news stories show that dogs
are early detectors with a proven track
record. The British Medical Journal
reported the ability of dogs to sniff
out cancerous tumors. The U.S. Epilepsy
Institute says that dogs can tell when
a person is about to have a seizure.
Dogs warn people and steer them to safety
so the falling person doesn't get hurt.

After the tsunami, eyewitness accounts
attested to the fact that animals offered
better early detection cues than any
man-made, technological systems. Unlike
the horrible tragic human toll, no dead
animals were found along the coast of
the Indian Ocean.

George Pararas-Carayanni, a scientist
who has been involved with Tsunami Research
at the Hawaii Institute of Geophysics
of the University of Hawaii and is former
director of UNESCO scientific organizations,
says that since 1920, when a 8.5 magnitude
earthquake hit China, the Chinese have
been studying unusual animal behavior.
Before the 1966 quake in Northern China,
all the dogs in the village at the quake's
epicenter ran from their kennels and
survived. (www,drgeorgepc.com/earthquakepredictionchina.html)

In 1974, the Chinese were able to
observe animal behavior - snakes prematurely
coming out of hibernation, rats suddenly
appearing - to accurately predict the
Haicheng earthquake of 1975. Chinese
and other scientists acknowledge that
sharks, catfish, and migrating birds
sense electromagnetic changes in the
earth. Two Chinese earthquakes have
been predicted by paying attention to
the accounts of people who reported
unusual behavior in cows, horses, mules,
dogs, cats, goats, and pigs.

Research conducted by Harvard and
Cambridge biochemist, Rupert Sheldrake,
Ph.D., and his colleague, David Jay
Brown, has yielded accounts of dogs,
cats, horses, emus, chickens, goats,
and caged birds becoming severely agitated
prior to earthquakes in the San Fernando
Valley, a suburb of Los Angeles. Sheldrake
writes in Dogs That Know When Their
Owners Are Coming Home, "Some people
noticed that just before the earthquakes
struck, there was a strange silence
as wild birds and crickets stopped singing."

Sheldrake calls for an animal-based
earthquake warning system with a toll-free
hotline to receive calls about strange
animal behavior. He reports that from
1979 to 1981, when the U.S. Geological
Service ran a pilot project with 1,200
volunteer observers from earthquake-sensitive
areas of California, the project found
that seven of the earthquakes had a
statistically significant increase in
calls about unusual animal behavior
prior to their occurrence. Then, funding
for the project was discontinued. Go
figure!

Since animals have lived on earth
longer than humans, are they genetically
designed to know or sense more than
humans can? Have we lost innate abilities
that used to warn and protect us? Would
human lives be saved if people paid
more attention to the sentient beings
in their homes, backyards, and nature?

The major themes of our books, articles,
weekly newsletters, and Website have
been twofold: Animals are messengers
who are trying to communicate to humans.
Animals are our partners on this planet.

We believe that animals and their
attempts to alert people to danger would
add valuable information to sophisticated
scientific systems. Instead of scoffing
at the belief that animals have a sixth
sense or concluding that people who
try to observe and understand animal
communications are off-base, maybe it's
time to take a look at all we humans
might be missing. Instead of viewing
animals as property, dumb beasts, or
naļve and helpless children, let's give
them the respect they are due. Animals
don't speak our language, yet when humans
start listening for and watching the
animals' instinctive cues, the reduction
of suffering and destruction will have
powerful allies.

While we join our fellow Americans
in donating to the relief fund for tsunami
victims, we are compelled now to immediately
and urgently get out information about
the crucial roles animals play in preventing
and alleviating human suffering. Countless
lives will be saved after the message
is finally received.